After the Paradox
by lilyun
Summary: Set after the Academia 4XX paradox ending. Serah left Noel to go on an adventure with her hero Snow. But sometimes the hero changes. Sometimes you have to leave a path to realize it's the one you're supposed to be on.
1. Chapter 1

Serah watched the rhythmic rise and fall of Snow's back and tried not to hate his ability to fall asleep the moment his spiky blond head hit his pillow. Moonlight streamed in through the half-open window of the hotel, the curtains stirring as the breeze brushed past. A pale blue light flashed on the opposite side of the room when the shifting curtains cast the moonlight on the first of the thirteen crystals Snow had found. Every night Serah closed the crystal's satchel before going to bed and every night, it was somehow opened so its intermittent flashing could continue. Once she had thrown a pillow at it, but the resulting crash had only caused Snow to awaken and…not understand. There were a lot of things Snow didn't understand these days. She wondered if he ever really had. Mog wasn't with them at the moment. The inquisitive moogle had gotten himself into a mess Snow was working on getting him out of. But seeing that Mog's capture placed him where he could keep an eye on the next crystal, neither he or Snow were in any hurry to get him back. The crystal winked at her from the satchel and Serah bit back a sigh and began the careful process of extricating herself from the bed. Snow was a light sleeper. Valuable when they were on the road but inconvenient when their accommodations were more luxurious. One foot made it to the floor, followed by the other, and with a glance over her shoulder at the slumbering Snow, Serah rose from the bed.

"Mmmmph," Snow grunted in his sleep and Serah froze, praying he wouldn't roll over, reach for her, and find her gone. She didn't want another lecture about leaving his protection. Never mind that _he_ could leave _her_ whenever he wanted. Turning to face the bed, she tentatively touched her pillow, her gaze never leaving Snow's back. Shifting the pillow so it might convince him—at least temporarily—that she was still there should he roll over, she retreated from the bed.

"Gmmph," Snow grunted a second time, reaching behind him and patting the pillow standing in for Serah. His lips curved in a smile and guilt trickled through her before she turned her back on him. Maybe she was being too hard on him. He was only doing what he thought was best. She'd wanted to come with him. Even if he hadn't really given her a choice. She'd wanted to come. It was just…Serah stopped at the half-open window leading out to the balcony she and Snow never used and leaned against the wall. The breeze intensified and she shivered, reaching for the gauzy material the hotel used for curtains even though it would be of little use against the cold. Wrapping herself in the curtain, she closed her eyes as the image of Noel conjured itself before her, his hair coated with snow as they made their way through the Bresha Ruins.

_"Just keep moving, Serah. It'll help you forget about the cold," the young hunter said over his shoulder, running ever onward. Serah shivered uncontrollably and retorted,_

_ "Noel. Look at what I'm wearing. Moving isn't going to make me forget about being cold." _

_ "Kupo!" Mog chimed in, swirling around Serah's head. Even the faint heat from his bobble felt warm to her. Noel stopped, one hand scratching the back of his head before he turned to look at her. _

_Serah alternately blew on her hands and rubbed her arms, but neither action did much to relieve the cold seeping deeper and deeper into her skin. Mog soared back and forth between the two of them. Chin in hand as he studied her, Noel looked her over several times and said,_

_ "I guess you're right it isn't practical attire. Not for this time period anyway." Serah snorted and rubbed her arms vigorously._

_ "Remind me to take it up with Lightning next time we see her." Noel's answering smile faded as she shivered again. Something flickered in his eyes and just when she was about to suggest they start moving again, he crossed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. A muted cry of surprise escaped her before she was too distracted by the warmth enveloping her to notice much of anything else. His skin was as cold as her own but his embrace was still strangely warm. Gradually her shivers subsided, the snow accumulating in Noel's hair(and her own)and Serah found herself staring at the largest circle of Noel's necklace. Mog was mercifully silent, flitting around the two of them without even a hint of a "kupo." She was warm—as warm as she could be with snow still softly falling around them—but she couldn't make herself step away. Noel's necklace took on all sorts of textures and definitions she had never noticed before and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but his arms slipped from around her and he took two steps back. As if nothing had happened._

_ "We should keep moving," he said, his head tilted slightly as he gave her a faint smile and took off, running deeper into the ruins. _

_ "Kupo?" Mog whispered. The softness of his voice sent shockwaves rippling through Serah, but Noel's figure was growing smaller and smaller in the distance and bereft of his arms, the cold was seeping back into her skin at an alarming rate. _

At the hotel window, Serah shivered and drew the curtain more tightly around her, while she temporarily banished Noel's memory. Temporarily was all she could manage. Everywhere she turned, there was something that reminded her of the hunter she had left behind in Academia 4XX. The cry of a chocobo unfailingly conjured Noel's face at the Serendipity races. His addiction had surprised both of them. It hadn't been his fault—they had needed the Casino Coins after all—but his enthusiasm for the races had been both charming and infuriating. After ten races, he knew the odds on each racing bird better than the Serendipity tellers. He was so engrossed he hadn't noticed when she slipped away with Mog to play the slot machines. But _he_ had been able to walk away on his own. She hadn't. She could still hear the distinctive beep of the Serendipity slot machine, the definitive stop as the symbols aligned, the thrill of Victory and Super Victory mode.

_"Serah? Serah." Serah pulled the lever, her eyes alight as she watched the characters fall into place on the screen in front of her. _

_ "It's no use, Kupo." Mog's voice sounded as if from somewhere very far away and Serah pulled the lever a second time. _

_ "Serah." The voice was like a fly, irritating with its persistence, and Serah actually swatted at the air in the attempt to make it go away._

_ "Just one more," she murmured, pulling the lever for the third time since Noel's arrival. The hunter sighed, crossing his arms and watching as Serah continued to play the slots. Her lips curved slightly at the corners. The swatting had worked. Noel rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his gaze flickering to the ridiculously dressed Casino attendant. There was a knowing look in her eye and a certain smugness to her mouth before she dropped his gaze and greeted the newest arrivals. Noel sighed and leaned down to peer into the machine. Serah pulled the lever despite his nearness. _

_ "How long have you been playing this?" His brows arched as he read her total number of turns. Serah shrugged._

_ "How long were you at the races?" _

_ "Too long. Lightning did well for us." She smiled before she could stop herself. They had quarreled over their name for the Silver Chocobo for at least fifteen minutes. The teller had been most insistent their chocobo couldn't be entered in a single race if it didn't have a name other than "Silver Chocobo." Mog's not so humble suggestion they name the bird after him had been ignored. Serah had suggested "Snow," expecting Noel's response that it was a __**silver**__chocobo, not a __**white**__ one. He'd said "Yeul" to return the favor, which she had instantly dismissed. It was Noel who thought of "Lightning," though. Three 9's slid into place on the screen and Serah hummed along as the victory music played. Noel's brows rose so high they threatened to merge with his hairline. The jackpot of 250 Casino Coins spilled out but neither of them seemed to notice._

_ "I won us enough to buy the Chaos Crystal," Noel said._

_ "Noel, I'm in Victory Mode," Serah retorted, willing the Moogles and Chocobos to keep aligning._

_ "I've already bought it," he continued, his gaze lifting to the moogle floating on the other side of the machine. Mog shook his head. "We should go. Those paradoxes aren't going to resolve themselves."_

_ "Victory Mode," Serah repeated, turning to look at him for the first time since he had appeared. One finger pointed to the screen while another reliably pulled the lever when prompted. Noel stared at her as she turned back to the machine, her mouth curving up at the corners._

_ "That's it. Time to go." Serah's gaze didn't even stray from the screen. Noel leaned down, glanced at the screen that held Serah captive, and pulled her from the machine._

_ "Noel! I was in Victory Mode!" Serah protested, turning back towards the slot machine happily waiting for someone to pull its lever. Struggling under Noel's hold, Serah looked pleadingly at the hovering Mog. Hesitantly the moogle floated towards the waiting lever only to stop when Noel shook his head. _

_ "Mog!" Serah cried, squirming under Noel's grasp. Mog hung his head, emitted a soft "kupo" and retreated to what he thought was a safe distance. Serah struggled for several more moments, glancing over her shoulder at the tantalizingly flashing screen. Noel didn't even seem like he was trying to keep her from breaking free._

_ "Noel, please, just five more minutes," Serah pleaded, ceasing to struggle and fixing him with the look that had always succeeded in getting Snow to give in to what she wanted. Something flickered in Noel's eyes but his grip remained unshakable. _

_ "You've played enough." _

_ "Five minutes, I swear." Serah widened her eyes and allowed a slow smile to spread across her lips. Again his eyes flickered and then he shook his head and leaned back into the machine._

_ "You're cashing out."  
><em>

_"No, Noel, don't…" Even with only one arm, he was able to keep her back with ease and Serah briefly contemplated biting him. The screen flashed at her one last time over Noel's shoulder and then it was over. At a nod from Noel, Mog collected Serah's winnings and zoomed away to the counter, chortling over the amount of gil in his possession. Serah stared after the winged creature for several moments before her gaze rose accusingly to Noel. For the third time his eyes flickered but his grip remained firm._

_ "Noel Kreiss, you…are…a…meanie," she whispered. Noel's shoulders lurched and one corner of his mouth raised as if to smile before he straightened it._

_ "'Meanie Miss Farron' would know, wouldn't she?"_

_ "I was…"  
>"In Victory Mode, I know," he said before she could finish. Serah beamed at him.<em>

_ "You __**do**__understand!" She clasped her hands together and made a move towards the slot machine. Noel's grip tightened to the point of pain._

_ "I understand that __**you**_ _need a change of scenery." Serah opened her mouth to protest further only to have Noel hoist her over his shoulder and march her out of the Serendipity casino. Laughter followed the two of them, especially since Serah had been unable to stop herself from shrieking at him to put her down, but Noel had been resolute._

The memory was more embarrassing now than it had been when it happened. Noel had theorized there was a spell cast by Serendipity on its patrons that made them behave…irrationally. She wanted to believe it. It was fortunate Serendipity existed in its own plane, its own time and space. She didn't trust herself to go back there again. Ever. Her fingers twitched against the hotel curtain as if to pull a lever and a noise of exasperation escaped her.

"Damn slot machines," Serah muttered. Her lips curved into a smile as she remembered the pathetic beeping noise Noel would make to annoy her after the Serendipity incident. She had spent an embarrassing amount of time working on her chocobo impression in order to repay him, but it hadn't had the same effect. Chocobo music annoyed Noel, not chocobo sounds. Which was understandable, really, since that song was almost _impossible_ to get out of your head once it got stuck there. What was Noel doing, right now, in Academia 4XX? Watching over Hope? His talents were wasted as a bodyguard. She suspected he was bored out of his mind. She missed him. She _really_ missed him.

Sighing, Serah stepped away from the window, letting the flimsy edges of the hotel curtain trail through her fingers. Noel was going to haunt her, no matter what she did. She shouldn't have left him. She had known it the moment she and Snow vanished from Academia 4XX and into this time period. But she had always wanted to go on an adventure with her hero. It wasn't her fault it hadn't turned out the way she imagined. She sighed a second time and returned to the bed, seating herself on the edge beside Snow. He was lost in sleep, his hair a spiky mess, his stubble seeming to thicken with each breath. She smiled at the sight of him…but the smile soon faded. After wanting to be with Snow for so long…it wasn't…it wasn't what she expected. He did his own thing…_all the time_…without consulting her…or asking her to come along with him. She knew he wanted her with him—he wouldn't have asked her to come otherwise—but he seemed to only want her around when it was convenient for him to have her there. Snow still thought he had to protect her. Even the _idea_ of her defending herself hadn't occurred to him, would never occur to him. She wasn't…she wasn't a _partner_ with Snow. Not like she had been with Noel. Her fingers closed over the replica of Cocoon hanging around her neck. But they were engaged. _"It's on hold for now," _Snow's voice echoed in her mind. It stung. Just as it had the first time. Noel said he couldn't do what they did. Stay apart, do their own thing, even though they loved each other. But now that they were "together"…Snow was still doing his own thing.

Moisture gathered behind Serah's eyes before she closed them briefly and took a deep breath. Touching Snow's hair, she ran her fingers through the spiky blond strands, waiting for him to wake up.

"Gmmph?" Snow mumbled, one hand raising to halt the movement of her fingers as his eyelids fluttered open. "Serah?" The hand not grasping hers touched the pillow still nestled into the curve of his back and his brows drew together. Serah smiled and let her hand fall from his hair while he rubbed at his eyes and tried to bring the hotel room into focus. "What is it?" He asked, his gaze scanning the room and determining they were in no immediate danger. Serah studied him for a moment, her gaze holding his.

"I have to go back."


	2. Chapter 2

Hands clasped behind his head, Noel stared up at the sky, squinting to find the few stars visible under the light of Academia 4XX as he was propelled forward by one of the arrow paths. Last night he had found a total of ten lights he thought were actually stars. Tonight he would find eleven. It helped to have goals. A purpose. Even if it was something as stupid as counting stars. Noel sighed. He should leave. Tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after. It didn't matter when…as long as he left.

The gates were still open, he could go anywhere he wanted. The Archlyte Steppe, maybe. It was a hunter's paradise. No shortage of monsters, a controllable climate. Or the Bresha Ruins. A fortune to make Mog salivate with envy waited for him. His skills were needed in either location and he knew he would be happy whichever one he chose…except… he would be gone when she came back.

_If_ she came back.

She wasn't coming back. He knew she wasn't and yet every time he seriously considered leaving, the hope that she might kept him rooted in Academia 4XX.

Noel shifted to the left before the path ran out, rearranging himself as it propelled him back towards Academia headquarters. He had ridden it enough that the switch had become instinctive; he no longer needed to track his position in the sky or mark a building near the end of the path.

Maybe he should start that chocobo breeding program for Serendipity. There was still the problem of getting the birds to a place that didn't really exist. Damn Snow for taking her. Damn Serah for going with him.

"_Screech!"_

_ Noel skidded to a halt, his hands grasping the hilts of his blades while his gaze scanned their surroundings for the source of the noise. _

"_Caweeech!" _

_ The noise came again, from behind him, and his fingers fell from his hilts. Crossing his arms, he whirled to face a too-innocent looking Serah, her gaze conveniently elsewhere. Mog hovered around her head, revealing nothing._

"_What was that supposed to be?" _

"_What was what…" Serah began, the words dying on her lips as she took in his expression. Avoiding his gaze, she touched her bangs and shifted her weight from one foot to the other._

"_A chocobo," she mumbled._

"_A what?" _

_ He pretended not to hear her and stepped closer._

"_A chocobo," she said louder._

_ Noel's brows arched._

"_A chocobo," he repeated, stroking his chin with one hand. _

_ Serah's eyes flashed and her head jerked up as she retorted,_

"_It's not the easiest sound in the world to replicate."_

_ Noel's lips twitched and he took a step back. Clearing his throat, he took a breath and emitted such an accurate chocobo squawk that the chocobos they had tamed answered him. Serah's eyes narrowed as Noel smiled slowly at her and resumed walking. Mog swirled reassuringly around her head and he heard her muttering, loud enough so he knew she was talking but soft enough he couldn't make out the words. _

_ He'd started it. He beeped like the Serendipity slot machine and tried not to laugh when she cursed him under her breath. "I was in Victory Mode!" Her voice echoed in his mind and his shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. The sensation of a million little daggers hitting his back seized him; he imagined she was aiming for right between the two wings and he barely choked back his laughter._

_ That evening she thought of the song. That damn song that never really left his head once he had the misfortune to hear it. Even worse…there were **words**. Inane, ridiculous words. "Run like the wind, just leave your cares behind…."_

He sang it now, under his breath, hating that he couldn't stop himself. It became a habit of hers, to hum it as they ran across the Steppe or the Plains, or under her breath while someone else was talking to them. He had tried to ignore it, knowing nothing gave her more satisfaction than when she caught him humming along.

He _hated_ that song. He'd started beeping at her once in retaliation and for five crazy minutes, they made their own song of chocobos and slot machines. They'd laughed so hard afterwards both of them ended up on the ground, trying to catch their breath. He smiled faintly in remembrance.

He _hated_ that song. But he'd give almost anything to hear her humming it again. Noel sighed and shifted over, rearranging his hands behind his head. 3, 2, 1….

"I still don't see the point of this."

Right on schedule. His lips twitched and he looked up and over at the familiar figure of Hope, strolling alongside the path as it propelled Noel forward.

"It's the only way I can get to sleep," Noel answered.

The lights of Academia glinted off of Hope's hair, illuminating him as if he were his own personal flashlight.

"It wouldn't be a problem if you stopped falling asleep on the path."

Noel shifted. Yesterday morning had been the fifth time. It had been funny at first. Him falling asleep on the Academia path. Now it was becoming a habit. He had tried to go to sleep the normal way. In his room, without riding the paths. But he couldn't sleep the normal way. Not anymore.

"It isn't my intention," he muttered. "I don't know what to do," he added.

Hope's brows arched and he continued walking alongside Noel in silence, the lights glistening crazily in his hair. Two guards stood stationed at the end of the path nearest headquarters, close enough to come to their aid if necessary but not to hear their conversation.

Satisfaction trickled through Noel at the sight of them; as Hope's bodyguard, he had been given command of the Academia guards. It had taken weeks of heavy training, but they now performed flawlessly under his command. Noel even had one or two picked out to take over as bodyguards if he ever did manage to leave. It was a formality, really. Hope was more than capable of taking care of himself.

Behind his head, his fingers curled as if to make a fist as he wondered how aware of that Snow had been when he designated Noel to stay behind. The assassination attempt he spoke of? Hope had been giving a presentation at the Academy. Noel had guards stationed at every doorway of the auditorium, all of the building entrances, plus several mixed in with the crowd. None of them had been close enough to stop the assassin.

Hope stopped him. Without missing a word of his presentation.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the Academy Director pulled out his boomerang, killed his would-be assassin, and continued his presentation. While the guards rushed to clear the scene and check for accomplices, Noel stared at Hope and realized he'd been duped.

Hope didn't need a bodyguard. No one who traveled with Lightning for any period of time would have remained defenseless. Hope had been a L'Cie. He didn't need guarding any more than Noel did. Snow had to have known that. So had Serah.

"You don't have to stay," Hope said, his lips quirking as Noel shifted over to the other side.

"I know."

"Surely you've thought of somewhere you could go."

"Yes."

Noel let one hand fall from behind his head while Hope continued to walk alongside him in silence. One…two…Noel's eyes followed the pinpricks of light he believed were stars.

"If she came back," Hope began.

"She's not coming back."

"_**If**_ she came back, I'd tell her where you went. She could…"

"Travel through a gate, I know. But what if I'm not there when she gets there?"

Noel looked up at Hope. The young Academy director's jaw was clenched, his arms crossed as he walked alongside the path.

"You could leave word with someone you trusted, telling her where to find you."

"And leave a trail across the crux for Serah to try and find me? She made her choice, Hope. All of us have to live with it."

Hope's mouth opened and then closed. One…two…three…Noel counted and shifted over to the other side of the path.

"Everyone leaves me. Why should she have been any different?"

The words escaped Noel before he could stop them and Hope came to an abrupt halt. Propelled onward by the path, Noel clenched and unclenched his fist and resumed counting the stars. Hope's footsteps pounded behind him and Noel started as Hope seated himself on the path in front of him. Legs crossed, Hope studied him unabashedly while Noel groaned and pulled himself upright. Resting his elbows across his knees, Noel threw up his hands and stared back at Hope.

One hand at his lips, Hope's gaze fell to the blue light of the arrows visible between them, his expression somber.

"Alyssa agreed to let us question her."

Interest flickered within Noel before he stifled it.

"To let _you_ question her," Hope amended, his hand leaving his mouth as his gaze met Noel's again. Noel arched a brow.

"Me?"

"She insisted. She won't talk to anyone but you. Not even me."

"How flattering."

A look passed between them and Hope's lips twitched.

"Will you talk to her?"

Noel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his head tilted to one side as he studied Hope. The Academy Director looked back over his shoulder, gauging the distance between him and the end of the path, before electing to move over well ahead of time. One corner of Noel's mouth raised and he leaned back on his palms, staring up at the sky. One…two…three…four…

"Before you decide, there's something you need to see," Hope added, unbuttoning the top button of his uniform and withdrawing an object that looked suspiciously like a compact. Handing it to Noel, he mimicked the hunter from the future's pose and rested his arms across his drawn-up knees.

Noel took the compact, turning it over in his fingers several times before glancing questioningly at Hope. The Academy Director said nothing, his fingertips laced together.

Despite its shape, the compact-like object didn't open, and Noel was about to chuck it back at Hope when his fingers found the concealed button on its side. Pressing it, he tried not to be impressed as a holographic image sprung up from the compact's surface. Hope watched him out of the corner of his eye, his fingers fiddling with the end of his tie.

A girl reclined against a thin metal slab, the mop of blonde hair confirming her identity before the Academy uniform could. Left leg resting against her right knee, Alyssa stared up at the ceiling of the cell Hope had placed her in, her hands clasped behind her head. A tray of untouched food lay a few feet from her, accompanied by a book that lay open but face down against the cell floor. A window barely big enough for a bird to fly through cast a thin patch of natural light into the cell.

There were no bars. Alyssa was contained by a transparent force field capable of shocking someone into unconsciousness should they be so foolish as to touch it while the cell was armed. The force field could be disarmed with the swipe of a card, but the key code changed daily and only certain cards could be reprogrammed.

It would be difficult but not impossible for the theft of one to be successful in breaking her out. She had yet to try, by herself or through someone else. Beyond her refusal to talk, she had been a fairly cooperative prisoner. Maybe too cooperative.

Alyssa changed positions, crossing the right leg over the left and fiddled with her tie in an almost exact mimicry of Hope. Hope's tie fell from his fingers, his expression stricken. Noel's thumb hovered over the holograph's button.

What was he supposed to be seeing?

Hope's features were once again under his control and he shook his silver head before shifting over to the other side of the path. Noel's thumb slid away from the button as he did the same. The hologram shimmered from outside interference and Noel's gaze flickered to Hope before returning to the miniature image of Alyssa. Her position hadn't altered, but there was a tension to her posture that hadn't been there before.

"This isn't what I planned."

Noel jerked upright and the compact nearly slid out of his grasp. The hologram shimmered a second time, one thick black line running through it as Alyssa pointed at the corner of her cell. A derisive laugh echoed throughout Alyssa's cell and Noel's grip tightened on the compact as the familiar hooked shape of Caius's blade blocked the camera's view. The hologram sputtered and fizzed and then completely faded, leaving nothing but the grating sound of static. Noel's cramped thumb inched toward the button a second time only to have Hope shake his head again.

Static faded in and out of the hologram and Noel let the arrow path run out beneath him. Hope slid off and motioned for his guards to maintain their respectful distance.

After what seemed hours but was no more than ten minutes, the hologram sputtered and the thick black line returned, running an endless loop over a blank screen until Alyssa came into view. She now sat on the narrow slab, her legs still crossed, the previously discarded book spread open on her lap. Her head was tilted to one side in her usual fashion and Noel recognized her trademark smirk on her lips. Alyssa tossed her tousled blonde head and looked into the corner where the camera was concealed.

"Director?"

Noel glanced at Hope. Jaw set, Hope was looking anywhere but at the compact in Noel's hand.

"Director, if you're not watching this now, I know you will at some point. I'm ready to talk. About everything."

Alyssa's gaze fell to the book in her lap and she turned a page, her lips threatening as if to smile.

"If Noel is still in Academia 4XX, tell him I'll speak with him. Only him. Or Serah. It doesn't matter. As long as it's one of them. I have some information they might find interesting. Very interesting." Her gaze flickered back to the camera and she smiled.

Uncrossing her legs, she rose from the slab, the book falling unheeded to the floor as she approached the corner. Standing on tiptoe, Alyssa tilted her head to one side and looked directly into the lens she supposedly couldn't see.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry. I'm not. And I'm not going to explain myself to Noel or Serah when they come to talk to me. The only person I owe an explanation to is you, Director. But you won't ask for it. Don't you want to know?"

The artifice vanished from her expression and her eyes were appealingly wide before she smiled to herself and retreated from the corner. Bending to retrieve her book, she looked back over her shoulder at the camera and settled herself once more on the slab. Noel's thumb hit the button without any silent rebuke from Hope and Alyssa vanished back into the compact where she belonged.

"Will you talk to her?" Hope asked.

Noel handed the compact back to him and rose, stepping onto the path and crossing his arms as it propelled him forward. Returning the compact to his uniform and re-buttoning it, Hope waited until Noel had made one revolution alone before stepping onto the path. One…two…three…four…five…

Noel pivoted to face Hope, his arms still crossed.

"Why won't you talk to her?"

Hope's brows arched and he scratched the back of his head.

"She betrayed me more than she did you or Serah."

Noel opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"I don't _need_ to understand. She might need me to, but I don't. Hearing her side of the story isn't going to change anything. She won't talk to me about Caius. I'm only interested in what she has to say about him. Nothing else."

"I didn't think you were that fond of her," Noel observed.

A smile flickered across Hope's lips and then vanished.

"I wasn't. She annoyed the hell of out me. Professionally she was the best. I needed her ambition to get me here. She pretended to like me so everyone else would think that was the reason. It was to protect herself. She needed to be close to me in order to stop any potential threats to her existence."

"She might have actually liked you."

Hope shook his head.

"No. Alyssa only cares about herself." He turned his back on Noel and stared up at the sky.

"I can't forgive her my loss," Hope whispered.

Noel half-turned to face him and then remained as he was.

"She annoyed me, yes, but she was the only person here who understood…who knew what it was like…where I came from. They welcomed us here. But it isn't the same. She knew that. She was the only one I knew who knew that. I lost that when she betrayed us."

"Caius came to see why the plan failed," Noel stated. Hope nodded.

"Maybe he didn't know it _had_ failed. Whatever dimension he meant to send you and Serah to, you two hadn't shown up yet. Maybe he only wanted to know what was taking so long. You're not concerned over how he got in?"

"Caius can travel through time on his whim. There isn't a security system in any time period that could keep him out of somewhere he wanted to be. It's probably just another trap to get us out of the way."

"So you won't talk to her?"

"I'll talk to her."

Hope sighed in relief and Noel checked his smile as he looked over his shoulder at him.

"I don't think it's going to do any good. But if Caius is involved…I can't leave it alone. He's counting on it. If he thinks I've swallowed the bait, maybe he won't go after Serah."

Hope straightened as Noel stared down at the arrow between his feet.

"You'd sacrifice yourself to keep Caius away from her?"

"She deserves her adventure with her hero. I won't be the one to take it away from her."

Hope's brows arched and he stepped off the path as it neared the Academy side. Noel lowered himself back onto the path, rearranging his hands behind his head. Hope stood at the end of the path, watching as Noel zoomed to the other side and shifted seamlessly to the other side.

"Tomorrow?" Hope asked as Noel's shaggy brown head came closer. Noel nodded.

"After your all-important meeting. I'll talk to her."

"You don't have to, Noel."

"Yes, I do. But I appreciate the option. I'll try not to fall asleep out here."

Hope laughed.

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Good-night, Noel. And…thank you."

Noel raised a hand in salute and Hope gestured to the lurking guards before returning to headquarters.

One…two…three…four…five…five…Noel's hands clenched into fists behind his head. What had he just gotten himself into?

* * *

><p>AN: I have updated at last! I want to thank everyone again for all the positive reviews! They restored some of my lost faith in my writing skills. This one got away from me a little. I hadn't intended to write so much between Noel and Hope, but they're two of my favorite characters. Hope may be the only person I still like from the first 13. Lightning was so annoying in Dissidia 012 I can't stand her anymore. I may have also given Noel my personal love/hate relationship with chocobos. I hope everyone enjoys the 2nd installment as much as the 1st. I'm a little worried I won't live up to it. There will be more. My goal is 5 chapters. There might be more, but definitely not less. :)


	3. Chapter 3

"You have to go back," Snow repeated. He ran a hand through his already disheveled blond hair. Beside him, Serah nodded, her hands laced tightly together in her lap.

"Back to Noel?"

"No." He arched a brow and Serah flushed.

"Yes. But not the way you mean," she amended.

Snow's mouth twisted upwards at one corner and he rose from the bed. Serah sank a little further into the mattress and tried to unclench her fingers. Snow searched for his shirt, his new L'Cie brand gleaming harshly against his skin in the moonlight.

He still hadn't told her why he had gotten it. Noel wasn't wrong to think Snow wanted to be stronger to protect those he loved…but there was more to it than that. Light from the crystal flashed intermittently across the room and Snow kicked the satchel. The flap fell closed and the light flashed a final time.

Snow grunted and bent down as he found his shirt. He sniffed it, shrugged, and pulled it on over his head. Serah's lips parted and she flushed at the reminder that he really was a fine specimen of a man. She almost giggled and bit her lip to keep from smiling as Snow took longer than necessary to pull down his shirt. Noel had always slept with his clothes on.

The view would not have been the same. If the young hunter from the future stood in the room with her instead of her fiancé. Not as broad…leanly muscled rather than brawnily. Serah blinked and tried to clear the image from her mind.

"Do you remember when we left you in Sunleth?" She swung her feet, her head tilted slightly as she looked up at Snow. He didn't turn to face her.

"Which time?"

"300 AF. Where you tried to go through the gate and couldn't?"

Snow grunted and nodded.

"It's like that. This isn't my path to take."

"You were able to cross time with me."

"I know."

"Don't you want to be here with me, Serah?"

He turned to face her, accusation mixed with hurt in his eyes and Serah's gaze dropped to the mattress.

"I thought I did," she whispered.

Snow's brows arched, his eyes widening before he shook his head slightly and sat down beside her. Serah's feet lifted another inch from the floor and she smiled. Hands on his thighs, Snow looked at her and sighed.

"I never should have left you to go search for Lightning."

Serah's head jerked up and she seized his arm.

"No! You were right to search for my sister. I didn't stop you."

"Would I have listened?"

"No. This isn't about you, Snow. Or you and me. It's something _I'm_ supposed to do."

"With Noel."

"Yes, but he's not why I have to go back."

Snow arched another brow and Serah released her death-grip on his arm. Couldn't he at least _try_ to understand? Serah rose from the bed and went to stand at the window, running a finger along the edges of the curtain.

"I was never very important in Bodhum. Or New Bodhum for that matter. I was always just Lightning's little sister. And then I was Snow's fiancé. Or Meanie Miss Farron." The image of herself, surrounded by her pupils rose up before her, a bewildered Noel in the background and she blinked it away. "I've never just been _me_. Serah. Until the paradoxes. I have to finish what I started."

Snow said nothing, his hands still resting across his thighs. Serah's fingers traced the edges of the curtain. _Noel would let me go_, she couldn't help thinking. _Noel __**did **__let me go._ Snow's fists clenched and unclenched against his thighs and he sighed as he rose from the bed. Serah tensed as he crossed over to stand beside her at the window. Fingers running along the edges of the curtain, Serah stared out the window, squinting into the sky to try and determine which pinpricks of light were stars. Snow made a noise deep in his throat and she inhaled, still not looking at him.

"Serah." Tentatively Snow touched her arm and Serah glanced at him before returning her gaze to the window.

"I'll take you back. If that's what you really want."

Serah beamed at him and Snow blinked. Serah's brows knitted together at the surprise in his eyes. Had it been so long since she had looked at him happily? Her gaze returned to the window and her fingers moved faster along the edge of the curtain.

"But first I have to get Mog and the second crystal. You can't go searching for paradoxes without him."

"No. Snow?" He grunted and Serah's fingers stopped running along the curtain. "I want to come with you. To get Mog _and_ the crystal."

"Sorry. No can do."

"Why not?" Snow sighed, running a hand through his hair again. Moonlight glinted against his L'Cie brand and he frowned and twitched his arm so Serah couldn't see it.

"Because it's going to be tricky enough without me worrying about you."

"I can take care of myself." Serah straightened and raised her gaze to his. Snow's brows arched and he smiled faintly.

"I know you can, but it'll be easier for me if you stay here and wait for us to come back. You can wander the city. You like doing that."

"I want to help get Mog and the crystal. I'll _like_ doing that."

Again Snow's brows arched and he smiled down at her indulgently. Serah's hands slipped behind her back where she clenched them into fists. _Don't make me play the Noel card_.

"Serah, I don't know if you _can_ help. I'll be lucky if I can even get inside. I'm…uh…not entirely welcome at the moment."

"That doesn't surprise me. Please let me help."

Snow shook his head.

"You're going to have to lock me in here to keep me from going," Serah continued. "And even if you do, I'll find a way out and go to the Imperial Palace by myself. I'm not staying here while you go out and save the day."

"Isn't that what a hero is supposed to do?"

He held his hands out to the side and looked at her so helplessly, Serah almost wavered. Once that silly little boy look of his would have been enough to get her to agree that it was best she stayed and waited for him to come back. Not this time.

"Sometimes a hero needs to realize he might actually need help. A hero doesn't always have to work alone."

Snow's hands fell to his sides, dismay flickering across his features.

"Okay. You can come with me." Serah forgot herself and flung her arms around him. Snow hesitated a moment before he embraced her in return and then drew her away from him, his hands resting firmly on her shoulders. A smile was permanently fixed on Serah's face. "You can come with me," Snow repeated, raising one finger from her shoulder. "But if at any moment I decide it's too dangerous, you're to come straight back here, got it? No arguments?"

"Got it," Serah replied, still smiling. Snow sighed, starting when she stood on tip-toe and kissed him lightly. The scratchiness of his stubble was familiar—missed even—but Serah drew away before he could think to imprison her in his arms. She had no intention of leaving if he decided it was "too dangerous." But she would do everything she could to make him think she did. Her lips still refused to do anything but smile and she returned to their bed, slipping under the covers with a contented sigh. It wasn't much, but it _was_ a victory. Snow remained at the window, his chin clasped in his hand, spiky blond head bent with thought.

"Actually…you might be of help…getting us inside."

"Hmmmm?" Serah stretched under the covers, gathering a fistful of the sheet with one hand. Victory had made her sleepy and she yawned contentedly. Snow turned from the window, affection shining in his eyes as he surveyed her.

"I'll tell you in the morning," he murmured, striding to the bed and touching her hair.

"Snow, if you even _think_ about leaving without me after you promised you'd take me…." Serah began, opening one eye to glare at him. Snow chuckled and shook his head.

"I won't. I said I'd take you with me and I will. Sweet dreams, Serah." She smiled at him and closed her eyes, barely feeling his fingers caress her hair before sleep finally overtook her.

Snow's beanie covered head disappeared from Serah's view and she cursed under her breath. She was beginning to think he was _trying_ to lose her in the crowd so she would have to give up and go back to the hotel. He'd let her come with him, but he'd never said anything about where. Her gaze flickered to the reassuring towers of the Imperial Palace, visible from almost any point in the city. She could find her way—with or without Snow. What she was going to say when she got there was another matter entirely. A longing for Noel swept through her and she didn't even try to suppress it. Snow's head appeared and then vanished at the next intersection and she turned just in time to see him slip into a nearby shop, the bell above the door jangling as he passed through.

Serah paused on the other side of the street, not feeling the occasional jostle from a passersby. A bookstore? Snow wasn't a reader. His aversion to books was so great, Serah almost believed he really was allergic to them like he claimed. Brows creasing, she glanced to either side of the street(the courier chocobos didn't stop for **anyone**)and followed him into the bookstore.

The reverent aura of books greeted her, accompanied by the slightly musty stale smell that accumulate wherever vast numbers of books were store and something inside her calmed. Snow stood at the front desk, his beanie now in his hands as he spoke with the store proprietor. A thin reedy man with glasses perched on the end of his nose, the proprietor had the air of a man who cared little for anything that wasn't written on a page. Snow's sheer size appeared to be making him very uncomfortable.

Meandering her way through the shelves, Serah ran her fingers along the tops of the books, unsurprised when no dust came away on her finger. She had taken Noel into a bookstore during their first foray to Academia 4XX. Hope had all but given them permission to play tourist and it had been a welcome distraction from the paradoxes. After loitering in at least seven different weapons shops, Noel allowed her to drag him into the first bookstore she found. Serah smiled in remembrance of his wide-eyed expression as he surveyed the shelves surrounding him. Tentatively placing a finger on the nearest book, he started as it slid out faster than he had expected and almost tumbled to the floor.

"'_I Want to Be Your Canary?'" He read, turning the book over in his hands before finding the synopsis on the back. Serah's shoulders jerked as she innocently perused the next shelf over._

"_It was a popular play for traveling troupes."_

"_For traveling what?" Noel asked, his brows arched as he finished with the synopsis and against his better judgment flipped to a page mid-way through._

"_Troupes. Didn't you do anything for fun in your village?"  
><em>

_"We were a little preoccupied with trying to survive." His gaze met hers over the playbook and Serah flushed and looked away. _

"_As made famous by Tantalus," Noel read. "How did something so bad become famous?" _

"_It's not that bad," Serah retorted. Privately she agreed with him. Noel shrugged and slipped the playbook back on the shelf._

"_What about this one?" She slid a thick volume toward him across the shelf that separated them. _

"_Al Bhed PrimerXII. Letter L. No." _

_He pushed the book back without even opening it and Serah bit her lip as she replaced it. _

_"Not without the whole set anyway," Noel amended. _

_Serah bit her lip so hard she thought it might bleed. Switching sides of the shelf, Noel stood beside her, his fingers running along the spines of the books as he searched the available volumes. He was so close, she would only have to shift a little to the right to brush against him…the thought startled her and she flushed, one hand reaching up to clasp the engagement necklace hanging heavily around her neck. _

_Oblivious, Noel continued his inventory of the available primers. _

_"No "C," "D," "A," or "K." I can't learn a language I won't be able to swear in." _

_Serah started, accidentally brushing against him in the process. The sensation was more pleasant than it should have been. Noel smiled to himself and edged further along the shelf while Serah gaped at him._

"_Are you serious?" Noel's smile deepened. _

"_Read this, Kupo!" Serah almost cried out when Mog zoomed in front of her, dwarfed by a book that was twice his size._

"'_Kupo! The History of Mognet,'" Serah read. It took a few attempts. Mog regularly rose and fell as he struggled to maintain his hold on the book. _

"_A piggy kitty history? Not interested," Noel said, his lips twitching. Mog sank several feet as he tried to fly in Noel's direction._

"_It's a letter system, kupo. Run by moogles, kupo."_

"_Did anyone ever get their letters?" Noel murmured but the moogle heard him. The book thunked to the floor and Serah flung her arms around Mog to keep him from flying after Noel. The young hunter smirked and disappeared down the next aisle of books. Serah released Mog and the moogle sank down to sit on the book._

"_It's proof, kupo," Mog murmured. "Proof I'm not the only one." In the next aisle, Noel stiffened and Serah caught a glimpse of his stricken features through the gap in the shelves. Kneeling beside Mog, Serah touched his bent head comfortingly and gave him a handful of gil. Mog's bobble sparkled and he hefted the book once more, zig-zagging his way up to the counter. _

"_One of us is going to end up carrying it." Serah jumped as Noel materialized beside her. His gaze was on the moogle happily haggling at the counter, one hand at the back of his head._

"_I don't mind." _

"_No. I don't suppose you would." Something in his tone struck her as funny and she looked up at him. Fingers once again thumbing through the books, Noel didn't acknowledge her gaze, his hair falling forward to partially conceal his features. Serah chewed on her lip and edged further down the shelf away from him._

"_Is there anything specific we're looking for?" Noel asked as he knelt to survey the lower shelves. Serah shook her head._

"_Not really. I just missed being around them. Books. Noel?"_

_ "Hmmm?"_

_ "If you never read for fun, how did you…"_

_ "There was a school in my village. For a while." A smile crept upon his lips. "No Meanie Miss Farron, though." His gaze met hers but his smile faded. _

_Serah couldn't remember the last time she had said so many wrong things in so short a time. It wasn't usually like this with Noel. It had always been easy. It was one of the things she most appreciated about him. But now…he had accidentally stood too close to her and she was confused. Maybe she just missed Snow so much any male nearness was welcome. But it was more than missing Snow. It was Noel. She risked a glance at him. He was standing again, a book open in his hands, his brows drawn together as he brought it closer to get a better look at the page. His nose wrinkled and he shook his head as he closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. _

_ "After we resolve the paradoxes, you could make me a reading list," Noel said. Serah blinked, her lips parting as if to speak but no sound came out. "No quizzes. No tests." He held up a finger in warning, his lips twitching. "Just don't put something like…" He brought the book in his hands up to his face, peering intently at the cover before adding, "The girl on this cover looks like you. And your sister." _

_ "Is that the Legendary Princesses of Cocoon?" Noel checked the title and nodded, his gaze flicking back and forth from the cover to Serah's face._

_ "It's just coincidence, Noel. There's no connection." His brows arched and he looked from the book to her face again. "I used to love this book," Serah said, unobtrusively taking the book from him. "The younger princess ended up saving the day in the end. I guess I…over-identified. There are some people who think the book is true. That there really are two princesses living in a hidden recess of Cocoon, keeping it aloft with their magic."_

_ "I take it Hope's not one of them?" Serah elbowed him. _

_ "I'll bet he looked into it." Noel laughed and took the book back from her._

_ "You should get this."  
><em>

_"Oh…no…Noel, I don't think I'd like it as much now. When would I read it?  
><em>

_"Between paradoxes?" He tapped the book against his palm and headed for the counter. Mog had finished haggling with the owner and was happily bobbing up and down in a corner where he had propped the massive volume in order to read it easily. _

_ "It's just a silly fairy-tale, Noel, don't buy it!" Serah called after his retreating figure._

_ "I like fairy tales," Noel responded, throwing her a smile over his shoulder before he reached the counter. Serah chewed on her lower lip and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Mog hovered in front of his book, his bobble bent with concentration. Noel paid for the book and headed for the door. Pausing to nudge Mog, Serah reached for the book, her fingers brushing through a burst of smoke as it vanished. _

_ "Kupo!" Mog circled her head and exited the shop. Bracing her shoulders, Serah followed Noel and Mog out of the bookstore. So much for being soothed by the calming atmosphere of books. Noel was waiting for her at the edge of the street, his arms crossed, his gaze scanning the streets. Serah moved to stand beside him, all too aware of him as he handed the book to her without saying anything. Gripping the edges of the book, Serah wished she could poof it away the same way Mog had._

_ "It might not be just coincidence, Serah. Aren't you curious?" Noel looked at her, the seriousness of his gaze startling and Serah stared at him._

"You really do look like her. I'd always thought it was exaggerated."

Snow's voice jerked her back to the present and Serah blinked as Noel's features vanished from her vision, replaced by the broad chest of Snow. A long narrow scroll was tucked under his arm, along with a battered copy of an illustrated version of the book Serah still hadn't had time to read.

"What does the Legendary Princesses of Cocoon have to do with anything?" Serah asked.

"The Duke _believes_." Snow grinned at her and Serah's eyes widened.

"He what?"

"You know those crazies who actually think there's a hidden kingdom somewhere in Cocoon. The Duke's one of them. He's the world's most prominent collector of all things Cocoon Princess. And _you_ are going to be his dream come true." Snow flipped through the pages of the book while Serah's eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. Finding the picture he wanted, Snow held it up so she could see, his lips twitching. Serah leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she took in the barely there dress the princess of Cocoon was wearing.

"No." She reached up and snapped the book closed on Snow's fingers. Shaking them, he flipped the book back to the same page and said,

"You wanted to help get the crystal, didn't you? Rescue Mog? Go back to Noel."

Snow grinned at her outraged expression and Serah snapped the book closed on his fingers and snatched the book from his grasp.

"When this is over, Snow Villiers, you are so dead."


	4. Chapter 4

Noel swiped the prison key card through the lock. The answering beep echoed through the narrow corridor behind him. Pressurized air whooshed out as the door opened in front of him and he placed a hand over the seal to keep it from closing.

"Last chance. You're sure you don't want to talk to her?"

Hope grimaced and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"I'm not interested in anything she has to say. I'm here for your safety."

"My safety?" Noel crossed his arms and did Hope the courtesy of not laughing. The Academy Director nodded, his gaze on the floor.

"Don't let your guard down around her. Even in a cell…"  
>"Hope, I get it."<br>"She let you out of a cell once, don't think you owe her any favors." Hope's gaze met his fleetingly and Noel fought against the answering pang at the memory of Serah. He had barely known her then. He'd been preoccupied with seeing Cocoon for the first time. Unaware of the potential danger in associating with the mop-headed blonde who lied to set them free.

"I won't let Alyssa get the drop on me. She's locked up and that's where she's going to stay."

"I've programmed the lock so it will only recognize your card. It will get her as far as this hallway, no further. Make sure she knows it." Noel saluted him and Hope groaned. "You're not taking this seriously."

"Hope. I assure you, I am. She won't escape." Noel arranged his features into what he hoped were serious lines and stared steadily at the young Academy Director. Hope shifted his weight, seemingly incapable of keeping still, but he said nothing further. Noel nodded and removed his hand from the door seal. Behind him, two of the four guards that had accompanied them into the cells stepped forward to flank him.

"I'm going alone."

He didn't wait for a response but darted through the door and swiped his key to close it before the startled guards could follow. Smiling at the indignant guards, Noel squared his shoulders and began the long walk down the corridor to Alyssa's cell. He was breaking his own rules. Going in alone. He was certain to catch hell for it later. He was Head of Security. He made his own rules. And broke them whenever he damn well pleased. Alyssa didn't frighten him.

Noel's footsteps echoed against the gleaming silver floor as he made his way to Alyssa's cell. He was dressed for the part of inquisitor at least. Ordinarily he shunned the uniform Hope had commissioned for him soon after appointing him head of security. But questioning Alyssa called for a display of authority. The uniform suited that purpose. It was the same as Hope's Academy uniforms, but black with blue stripes along the sleeves. He even had a purple tie. Noel tugged at the offending item and touched the hilts of his blades reassuringly. She wouldn't get the drop on him. Escape was not her plan. Alyssa would accomplish nothing away from the Academy. Even revealed for a spy, she needed to stay close to have any hope of completing whatever her agenda might be. She needed to have access to Hope. Noel pitied the Academy Director's torment where Alyssa was concerned. He believed it paled in comparison to his own, but it was still slowly eating away at Hope.

Noel halted as he neared Alyssa's cell. The force field holding her prisoner was discernible only by the slight shift in the air, a wrongness that didn't quite blend in with its surroundings. Alyssa reclined on the thin metal slab that served as her bed in almost the exact same position as she had in the compact he had watched. A magazine rested across her legs. She thumbed through it idly, her other hand running absentmindedly through her hair. She knew he was there. Her deliberate ignorance of his arrival was a feint if he ever saw one. This was going to be unpleasant. Why had he agreed to this? An image of Serah flashed before his eyes. Her eyes luminous as she looked up at her hero Snow.

Swiping his keycard through the lock with more force than was necessary, Noel stepped through the gap left by the force field and entered Alyssa's cell. Behind him, the force field regenerated and still the blonde did not acknowledge his presence.

"You wanted to speak with me?"

Alyssa's fingers flicked through the pages of the magazine as she looked up at him. Her brows arched at his appearance and one corner of her mouth raised in her trademark smirk.

"Oh. It's you. Just you. Where's Serah?"

"Not here. You wanted to speak with me?" Noel crossed his arms while Alyssa smirked down at her magazine.

"Left you behind, did she?"

"I'm not here to talk about Serah."

Alyssa set aside her magazine, her gaze meeting his.

"Serah is precisely what we're going to talk about, Noel. If you're not up to it, I suggest you leave. Come back when you're ready to talk. Or send the Director."

She held his gaze for several moments longer and then picked up her magazine. Noel watched her as she pretended engrossment in the magazine, her gaze occasionally flickering in his direction before returning to the glossy pages. Noel moved to lean against the wall and crossed his arms.

"Where would we have gone if you and Caius had succeeded?"  
>"Uh-uh. <em>I<em> ask the questions."

"Come on, Alyssa." Noel threw her one of his most charming smiles. Alyssa looked up, her brows drawing together as she took in his expression.

"Charming me won't work." She flipped through the magazine again and Noel ran a hand through his hair.

"For old times' sake then. We were allies once. At least I thought we were." Her fingers stilled on the pages and she stared down at them. Noel tried the smile again, less charming this time, more sheepish, combined with an careless shrug. "Consider it a fair exchange of information. I'll let you say whatever it is you're supposed to say to manipulate me into doing what Caius wants. And you answer my questions about what he used to want me to do."

"Just you? Caius manipulated Serah, too, remember?" Her gaze was still riveted on the magazine but her fingers didn't turn the page.

"Serah became part of Caius' plans only because she was with me."

"Are you so sure about that?" Her gaze slid from the magazine to meet his. Noel's fingers twitched with the desire to strike her.

"Where did Caius intend to send us? Somewhere we couldn't return from?"

Alyssa sighed.

"An alternate reality of your own making. One where neither one of you existed to the other. You would go back to your time. Back to Yeul. Back to Caius. Serah would marry Snow. Reunite with her sister. No resolving of paradoxes. Caius would be free to rearrange the timeline as he pleased." Noel's brows arched, one hand at his mouth as he considered.

"Where is Serah now?"

"With Snow. He showed up, spouting something about finding thirteen crystals and she went off with him." Noel saw no harm in telling her—even if she hadn't known, he didn't doubt Caius did. Alyssa tilted her head to one side and pretended to ponder this piece of information.

"Huh. After everything…she just left you? Here. Alone. To babysit the Director."

"You knew about the assassination attempt."

"I knew the Director could stop any attempt on his life. Well…any attempt that wasn't orchestrated by artificial intelligence he created." Alyssa smiled at him but Noel didn't return it. "I wasn't responsible for it," Alyssa added. "I knew of it, but I didn't order it. I actually am fond of him, you know."

"I didn't know." Noel imagined Hope was cringing right now. Noel was equipped with hidden recording devices. Alyssa was certainly aware of it.

"Why are you still here, Noel?" Alyssa crossed her legs and leaned back on her palms. Noel shrugged.

"Hope's guards needed a little fine-tuning." Alyssa snorted.

"The Director can take care of himself. You're not hanging around here in case Serah comes back, are you? You know she won't."

"Where should I go, Alyssa?" Noel met her gaze head on and she blinked, momentarily startled by his direct attention.

"Wherever you want to, silly."

"Maybe this where I want to be." Alyssa snorted a second time.

"Here? Waiting for Serah? Babysitting a man who doesn't need babysitting? Noel, we both know you deserve more than that. What happened to the Noel who left everything he knew behind on the off chance he might be able to change the future?"

He stared at her. Where had that Noel gone? _With Serah_, a voice answered and he scowled. Maybe the part of him that cared about the paradoxes and the future had gone off with Serah, never to be seen again. His scowl deepened. Alyssa rose and took a step toward him. Noel stiffened.  
>"Caius doesn't want me to loiter here anymore. Why?"<p>

"Caius wants what he's always wanted from you. That hasn't changed."

_"Noel. If you wish to succeed me, you must kill me."_ Caius' voice echoed in Noel's mind and he turned away from Alyssa, moving to stand in front of the energy barrier that trapped them inside her cell. He touched a finger to the barrier and shook it as pain lanced through him. Alyssa pointed a toe and pretended to dig it into the unresisting floor.

"Why should I leave?"

"The future isn't going to change itself."

"Funny words coming from a woman who didn't want me to do just that."

"I've seen the error of my ways?" Noel choked back his laughter. Alyssa observed his struggle with a perfect expression of false innocence.

"Caius told you to goad me into leaving."

"Honestly, Noel, not everything is about Caius. Maybe I have my own reasons for wanting you to leave." He arched a brow and took a step toward her before thinking better of it and maintaining his position against the wall. "I would very much like to speak to the Director. I don't think that's ever going to happen. As long as you're here."

"I've told him to talk to you," Noel replied, holding up both hands in surrender. His mouth quirked imagining Hope's ire. Alyssa smiled to herself.

"The Director doesn't always listen. He'll have to talk to me eventually. He won't be able to stand it. But he won't give in. Not while you're here."

"You want me to believe it's that important you talk to Hope?" Alyssa shrugged.

"Believe what you want, Noel. You have forgotten one very important fact, however." Alyssa put a finger to her lips and smiled her coy smile that Noel was beginning to loathe. He arched a brow in reply and waited for her to continue.

"Serah is still a Seeress. Just like your forgotten Yeul."

"I'm aware she's a Seeress."

Alyssa shook her head again and took another step toward him. Noel kept his gaze on the polished floor, disguising his acute awareness of her every move. He imagined Hope's certain freak-out at her increased proximity to him and his key card and tried not to smile

"Serah? Or Yeul? How long before Serah has another vision? Snow might be thick-headed, but even he's not stupid enough to pass up a chance to prove he can solve the paradoxes as good as you. If not better. And if Serah starts resolving paradoxes…that will lead her straight to…"

"Caius." Noel's gaze darkened, his chin lowering as he stared down at the prison floor, momentarily oblivious to Alyssa's presence. Alyssa nodded.

"Snow can hold his own against Caius…but do you really think he stands a chance of defeating him? Only you can do that. Caius has his own agenda for Serah. That alternate dimension is still waiting for her. Stay here and you leave Serah wide open to Caius. Leave and your actions will distract Caius from her. Temporarily at least."

"He threatened to go after Serah if I stayed here."

"I wouldn't say threatened. More inferred." Noel stepped away from the wall, striding to the humming barrier that entrapped them and swiping the keycard through it violently. Alyssa's eyes widened, gleaming briefly at the sight of the card, before she resumed a blank expression.

"I'll try to convince Hope to talk to you," Noel said as he stepped through the barrier. Alyssa's fingers twitched at her sides but she made no other movement. "When Caius returns…tell him he could murder Serah before my eyes and I still wouldn't give him the satisfaction of killing him. I'll leave. Did he tell you where?" Alyssa shrugged.

"Something about Oerba." Noel nodded and started down the corridor.

"She doesn't deserve it, Noel. She left you without even looking back. She'd do it again if given the choice. Don't forget that," Alyssa called after him. Noel stiffened but kept walking, his fingers clutching the keycard. Alyssa stood at the force field barrier, her head tilted to one side. Noel imagined if there were bars she would have been clutching them.

Hope waited for him on the other side of the cell block door, his features agitated, his right hand regularly slapping his book into the palm of his left. Noel reached into the front hidden pocket of his uniform and removed the listening device. Swiping the key card, he handed the card and the bug to the nearest guard and kept walking.

"Noel?" Hope questioned, wrenching the cover of his book between both hands.

"I'm leaving, Hope. I won't risk Serah."

"Noel!"

"End of discussion."  
>"At least tell me when." Noel paused and put a hand to the back of his neck.<p>

"Soon. Not tomorrow. By the end of the week." He glanced at Hope over his shoulder and smiled weakly. Hope's mouth opened and closed, one hand lifting in the air before it fell back to his side and he nodded. Some of the strain vanished from Noel's smile and his shoulders slumped as his tension ebbed away.

"I'll discuss it with you, Hope. Later."

"On the paths?"

"But I'm still leaving."

"I know." Noel nodded and resumed walking. This time Hope didn't call him back. He was leaving. Even if it might not save her. He had to try. And Serah…would never know.

A/N: I apologize for the long wait between updates. The good news is the next chapter should be up fairly soon. It's already started. I have an easier time with the Serah ones for some reason. Noel gives me fits. Thank you everyone for all your reviews and please keep reading! :)


	5. Chapter 5

_When this is over, I'm going to kill Snow_, Serah thought, smiling falsely at Duke Rathner as he pointed out another priceless painting on their way to the vault containing the crystal(and Mog, apparently).

The Duke was an odious little man. Barely taller than she was, he was balding badly, with irregular bare patches scattered all across his head. What hair he still possessed looked like displaced facial hair, covering his head with scratchy black bristles that might have been pulled straight from a hairbrush. It eliminated any chance of his appearing regal. He was dressed in a white suit, complete with a red sash, resplendent with medals announcing his rank. The pot belly he was nursing ruined that effect as well. He had an un-even gait that Serah had to constantly alter her stride in order to accommodate. He might have been handsome in his youth; Serah couldn't tell. His features were puffy from over-consumption of his favorite foods, his eyes small and shrewd, his smile quick and easy. He'd done nothing but leer at her from the moment she arrived.

She wasn't certain what bothered her more; that it didn't appear to bother _Snow_ in the slightest that this lecherous old man kept ogling his fiancé or that the Duke _kept_ ogling her. At first he had simply been astonished to see the legendary Princess in the flesh…then he had become obsessed with seeing the legendary Princess in the flesh. If her arm hadn't been linked through his, Serah suspected he would have periodically pinched her to make certain she was real.

Noel wouldn't have left her alone with him. Or maybe he would have. She was afraid every time Snow did something she didn't agree with she automatically assumed Noel would do the opposite. It would have bothered him. That much she knew. He'd had to scare off a good number of unwanted admirers any time she joined him at the Chocobo Races. No matter how engrossed he'd been with a race, he'd always known when someone was bothering her a little too much. He'd been kind to the ones who were just drunk and harsh with the ones who were serious. Almost got himself thrown out after he got into a brawl with one of them who would not take no for an answer. It was the witnesses who saved him. And the man still hadn't given up. He'd spat blood out of his mouth, leered at Serah one final time and after a prod from the racing officials apologized for bothering Noel's girlfriend. _"She's not my girlfriend,"_ Noel had answered quietly, his voice frighteningly lacking in emotion. The man had started, along with all the onlookers, and allowed himself to be shepherded out by the racing officials. Serah had just stared at Noel until he turned away to place another bet.

No, Noel would not have left her alone with this man. Not when his fingers were creeping places they shouldn't be and his eyes never stayed on her face for very long. Snow was securing their escape, she understood, methodically eliminating the Duke's advisors and his guards before meeting her at the vault. But he could have accompanied them, only to slip off from time to time and accomplish the same thing.

"Tell me, Duke Rathner, how did you become so interested in my story?" Serah asked, unobtrusively blocking his fingers from their intended path.

"Your story, Highness?" He blinked, his gaze managing to hold hers for at least a second.

"Yes, _The Legendary Princesses of Cocoon. _My story. And my sister's. How did you become so fond of it?"

"Oh well…" He launched into a recitation that Serah didn't bother to listen to. She consoled herself with the image of Lightning flattening the horrible little man as soon as they reached their destination. Her lips curved in a faint smile and she nodded noncommittably as the Duke paused in his oration to look at her. Momentarily tongue-tied, the man goggled at her for a moment and then took up his strain as if he had never been interrupted. Serah prayed the vault wasn't much farther away.

After leading her through a series of interminable hallways, down several dizzying flights of spiraling steps, Duke Rathner finally paused at a narrow dimly lit corridor. Glancing nervously at Serah, he removed one of the many rings from his fingers and pressed it into a practically invisible niche in the wall. Serah's eyes widened and her stomach plummeted. Stealing the ring to make her escape was going to be nothing short of unpleasant. As the Duke returned the ring to his finger, the wall in front of them shimmered and faded away in tendrils of blue smoke to reveal a single door. The duke fished inside the collar of his shirt and pulled out a tiny key on a chain. Serah bit her lip to keep from groaning. Two things she had to steal…and no way to do it without intimately touching the repulsive man. Snow Villers. Dead man walking.

Blue tendrils snaked out from the door as the Duke removed the key and returned it to its hiding place beneath his shirt. Serah repressed a shudder. Placing his palm against the door, the Duke smiled beatifically at her as his hand was engulfed by blue flames and finally the door swung open. He bowed and gestured for her to enter the room before him. Serah reluctantly returned the smile and strode into the vault, an ill feeling swirling in her stomach. Behind her, the door slammed shut and she whirled to behold the Duke, wearing the most innocent of expressions, while his eyes gleamed. A flicker of panic coursed through Serah and she quickly stepped away from him to survey the vault. All the breath rushed out of her body.

"It's magnificent, isn't it?"

Serah nodded dumbly. Gil. Mountains and mountains of gil everywhere she looked. She didn't know how Mog was still alive after being trapped in here. A narrow blue path snaked out from the doorway, branching off in different directions between the mountains of gil that filled the room. The occasional jewel or weapon peeked out from the glistening coins, eerily illuminated by a blue light similar to the ones that guarded the room. Coins clinked in the distance, accompanied by a high-pitched hum, and Serah thought she glimpsed something that looked like a pair of purple wings, sifting its way through the mountains of gil.

"Mog?" The humming ceased and a fountain of gil burst upwards from one of the nearest mountains to reveal the moogle. Behind Serah, the Duke huffed, his pudgy features darkening as the moogle regretfully brushed off the gil clinging to his body.

"Mog?"

"Serah?!" The moogle catapulted upward and careened toward her, landing in Serah's arms before she even had time to blink. Mog's tiny body shook slightly and she embraced him gently, wondering if imprisonment in a vault full of gil wasn't as fun as it appeared to be.

"Is it really you, Serah? What are you wearing, kupo?" The moogle freed himself from her grasp, his wings fluttering frantically as he took in her appearance. Serah shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

Secretly part of her liked the dress Snow had chosen for her to wear as one of the lost princesses of Cocoon. Another part of her had only put it on because she had to. It was nothing more than a white sheath with a lacy covering. Except the lace was covered with silver glitter…and cut in the shape of Cocoon. Her necklace had complemented it almost too perfectly. Snow had procured a pair of slippers for her—also white—that tied up to her calves. Her hair was also down—she had been wearing it in a side pony-tail for so long it felt somewhat unnatural to have it brush against her shoulders. Glittering miniature replicas of Cocoon had been sprinkled throughout her hair…she actually _glimmered_ when she walked. It really wasn't that surprising the Duke kept staring at her. But it was still creepy.

"Highness? Why is this…_creature_ calling you Serah?" Mog spiraled upwards several feet.

"Kupo?"

"Mog and I traveled together for quite some time, Duke. I went by the name of Serah to keep from drawing attention to myself," Serah explained, forcing herself to take the Duke's arm in reassurance.

"Kupo?" Mog hovered uncertainly in front of Serah. "_Go with it,"_ she mouthed at him while the Duke stared at her arm looped through his. Mog opened his mouth to emit another "kupo" and then wisely fell silent.

"So, Duke Rathner,where is that marvelous crystal you wanted to show me?" Serah turned it on full force at the odious little man, batting her eyelashes and giving him a smile that should make his knees weaken. The arm looped through hers trembled and Serah was nauseated by her own behavior.

"Of course, the crystal. Yes. This way, my dear Princess."

The Duke placed a hand on her arm and Serah willed herself not to recoil. Mog thankfully stayed silent while the Duke led her through his vault. Unease trickled through Serah as they progressed deeper into the vault. Surrounded by piles of gil of various heights and sizes, the vault was eerily silent. Even Serah's slippered footsteps echoed against the polished floor. The Duke prattled on about his discovery of the crystal, how abysmally long it had taken him to realize what a find it was, and how he loved fooling people into thinking he was going to part with it. Serah glanced at Mog as the Duke released her arm to rub his hands together in glee as he described the countless people whose petitions he had refused, even the ones that only wanted to look at his crystal. Snow was wrong. He wasn't going to give it to her either. Even if he did think she was one of the Cocoon Princesses. Why had she ever agreed to go along with this ridiculous plan?

"There! There it is!" The Duke's arm shot out, grasping her arm and preventing her from moving forward. Serah barely resisted the impulse to pry his fingers from her arm.

"Kuuupppooooo," Mog whispered, his wings fluttering frantically.

At first Serah could only see yet another mountainous pile of gil and then a pale pink light winked out from a niche in one of the vault's walls, blinking in the same fashion as the silver-blue one already in Snow's possession. The Duke's fingers fell from her arm as he approached it, the rose colored light flashing irregularly across his features.

"Isn't it beautiful? Almost as beautiful as Your Highness. More maybe." He stood in front of the niche, his eyes glued to the pale pink crystal protected by a glass shield. Serah allowed herself the daydream of Lightning knocking the man unconscious, smashing the glass, and taking the crystal before dismissing it as the wrong course of action.

"I would love to hold it…just once…Duke Rathner," Serah whispered, stepping closer and trailing a finger down the length of his arm. The Duke trembled and Serah cast a quick look at Mog over her shoulder warning against him _ever_ speaking of her behavior.

"Hold it? Oh no, my dear, no no no. I am the only one who's ever allowed to hold it, you must understand." Serah pouted prettily and the Duke shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "You can certainly _look_ at it, Princess, outside the glass. But I will hold it. Yes. I will hold it." Serah's smile didn't waver through sheer strength of will. The man was mad. Completely utterly mad.

Leaving her side, the Duke once again placed his ring into an almost indiscernible niche in the wall, unlocked a miniscule key hole with his tiny key and whispered something unintelligible. A soft glow enveloped the glass barrier before it descended partway—just far enough for a small-handed man like the Duke to reach inside. Duke something or other extended one of his absurdly tiny hands through the opening and retrieved the crystal. He held it to his chest, the other hand cupped over it so Serah could only see intermittent flashes of rose colored light. The glass barrier returned to its original position. If she hadn't been in the vault for the very purpose of stealing the crystal, Serah would have thought the Duke's precautions completely unnecessary.

"Come here. Look at it, my dear Princess." Duke Rathner beckoned to her with one finger, his hand still protectively cupping the crystal. Serah swallowed and approached him. The possessor of the first crystal had not been this obsessive over it. Reluctant, certainly, to give it up to Snow(Serah was more and more certain the first crystal had been procured through the same means as the second was going to be, despite Snow's statements to the contrary), but not so…creepy. She should have just knocked him over the head as soon as he removed the crystal and taken her chances with the guards.

"Not a good idea. Kupo." Mog whispered in her ear but Serah ignored him. Hand still cradling the crystal, the Duke continued to beckon to her with one finger, staring intently into his cupped hands. Stopping mere inches from him, Serah waited for him to uncover the crystal. Mouth curving upward at the corners, the Duke withdrew his hand from over the crystal with the dramatic slowness of the world's best charlatan.

The crystal was small. Smaller than the first one at least. Roughly cylindrical in shape, it was a pale pink color that too closely mirrored Serah's hair. Flecks of light danced across its surface, bathing it in pale pink sparkles. It was no ordinary jewel. That much was clear from one look and yet…Serah didn't understand why it had taken such a hold of the man in front of her.

"It _is_ beautiful," she said, unable to help raising a tentative finger as if to touch it. The Duke's eyes narrowed.

_Beep…beep…beep_

Serah glanced upwards at the sound, worry slicing through her stomach. The Duke smiled.

"It appears your escort has overstepped his bounds. As I suspected. You're very good, my dear, but surely you didn't think I would really believe you were the Cocoon Princess, did you?" Serah widened her eyes with deliberate innocence. Something flashed in the Duke's eyes and he took a step towards her. "The resemblance between you is quite remarkable…so remarkable, I tried to let myself believe in the possibility you could be her." His eyes clouded over, his hand once again protectively cupping the crystal. "But you have displayed none of her qualities. None. Other than your looks, there is nothing about you that leads me to believe you are even a Princess, much less the Princess of Cocoon."

"I am disappointed in your lack of faith, Duke," Serah said, drawing herself up with what she hoped was a regal air. The odious little man arched a brow at her, his hand curling even more protectively around the crystal. "But if it's proof you need…" Serah ignored Mog's half-whispered "kupo" behind her. "Give me the crystal."

The Duke actually clutched the crystal to his chest and Serah nearly laughed aloud.

"No."

"Please, Duke Rathner. Let me touch it. Just for a moment. If it reacts…I am who I say I am. If it doesn't react…I am the imposter you believe me to be and I'll leave." Noel's features superimposed over the Duke's and for one long moment she was back in Serendipity, pleading for one last pull at the slot machines. In the present, the Duke started and blinked, his hand lowering from above the crystal without his awareness of it.

"Just a touch?" The words came slowly, as if he had forgotten how to shape them. Serah nodded and smiled at him, willing the vision of Noel to vanish.

"With my fingertip. You can hold it the entire time."

The Duke took a step toward her, the startled expression on his face as he looked down at the feet that had betrayed him making Serah want to laugh. Through it all, the alarm beeped overhead, a faint reminder of the first part of Snow's plan to go awry. Serah continued to smile at the Duke as he inched his way forward, his hand finally falling to his side as the other extended the crystal toward her. Mog hovered behind Serah's shoulder, one paw at his mouth as he emitted a steady stream of "kupo" under his breath.

At last the Duke stopped, his eyes fixed on Serah as he extended the crystal the final inches between them. Serah inhaled and hoped she wasn't making a mistake before touching a fingertip to the pale pink crystal.

Nothing happened. Serah's stomach plummeted and her gaze met the Duke's.

Pink light suddenly burst forth from the crystal, flooding the entire vault with its brightness. Mog shielded his eyes. Serah's fingertip drifted away from the crystal without her awareness of it and the light faded, leaving the vault dull and empty without it. Speechless, Serah stared at the crystal still cradled in the Duke's hand. It had only been a hunch. A wild hunch at that. She had never dreamed it would actually _respond_. Maybe she was meant to search for the thirteen crystals with Snow after all. A sharp pang laced through her at the thought of not going back to Noel.

"Forgive me, my Princess," the Duke murmured. She barely heard him.

_Beep beep beep beep be…_

At the cessation of the alarm, both Serah and the Duke glanced up at the ceiling. Uncertainty flickered across the Duke's features and his fingers closed over the crystal.

"Kupo?" Clarity returned to Serah's gaze at the moogle's voice, a moment too late as the Duke seized her by the arms and kissed her. Two faces flashed before Serah's eyes, one the man who kissed her often and the other one who had never kissed her at all. It was the second she felt she was betraying. Emboldened by her lack of a response, the Duke drew her closer, the crystal scraping against her arm and sending out intermittent beams of pink light.

Serah clobbered him on the side of the head. Mid-kiss the Duke crumpled to the ground, the crystal rolling free of his outstretched hand and stopping at Serah's slippered foot. Retrieving the crystal, Serah tucked it into a hidden pocket in her dress and willed it not to blink intermittently. The crystal satisfied itself with emitting a faint pink glow. Bending beside the Duke, Serah checked that he was still breathing and tried not to be disappointed to find the answer affirmative. With some effort, she managed to get the chain with the key from around his neck and endured the distaste of prying the tiny ring off his finger. The Duke stirred but did not awaken and Serah looked for a place to leave him.

"In the gil, Kupo."

"What?"

"Put him in the gil. It'll take him forever to dig his way out." Serah looked from the Duke to the nearest pile of gil and chewed on her lower lip.

"I don't know, Mog…"

"Drag him."

"What if he wakes up? I didn't hit him that hard…."  
>"Hit him again, kupo."<p>

Serah gave the moogle a long look. He met it unapologetically. She suspected being confined in a vault full of gil for almost two weeks had not been as fun as a gil-loving moogle once imagined.

"Help me then and I'll try." Serah grabbed one of the Duke's ringed hands and pulled him toward the nearest pile of gil. Duke Rathner grunted but mercifully didn't waken. Mog hovered an inch from the ground and pushed. After several excruciating minutes, they managed to push the Duke midway into the pile of gil. Mog's wings fluttered frantically and he spent a few minutes piling more gil around the man. Serah chewed on her lip and glanced at the door.

"Mog, we should go."

"He won't be so fond of his gil once he wakes up, kupo." Mog rubbed his hands together and zoomed toward the door. Serah glanced back at the still unconscious Duke and followed the moogle.

"What's the plan, Serah?"

Grimacing as she went through the Duke's ridiculous security measures, Serah touched the crystal glowing faintly against her hip.

"First we rescue Snow from whatever mess he's gotten himself into and then we get out of here."

"And then? The third crystal?"

Relief coursed through Serah as the door was once again engulfed by blue flames and swung open. She had forgotten about needing the Duke's handprint. At this point she didn't care if it triggered another alarm or not. Mog zoomed ahead of her and Serah tossed the ring and the key over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.

"No. We go back. To Noel."

A/N: The update wasn't as soon as I would have liked, but here it is. It's an improvement at least. Next chapter will have the moment you've all been waiting for. :) Serah & Noel will reunite at last. And then...sadly...I will be done with this story. For those of you who have read Not My Serah, I have a sequel planned for that one, but not until I'm done with this. Thanks again everyone for reading! :) Oh and I realize the whole Duke/crystal thing is very Gollum/one ring-like but it just kind of happened.


	6. Chapter 6

_Serah—_

_In case you ever come back to Academia. _(I don't really expect you to.)

_Alyssa said a lot of things—most of them weren't true. _(You _do_ deserve my protection, even if you'll never know about it.) _But she's still in league with Caius. I still can't figure out why. _(Boredom mainly. Some twisted way to get to Hope.) _Caius wants us separated. He meant to trap us in alternate dimensions where we would have no memory of each other. _(You were probably happier there, in a world without me.) _Those dimensions still exist. Be careful. Snow might not recognize the trap a second time. Hope is fine. He never really needed a bodyguard. _(You knew, didn't you?) _He's learned to be a little less trusting. Alyssa may have done him a favor by betraying him. I'm going to Oerba. I expect I'll find some trace of Caius there. I'll leave a message for you if I find anything interesting._(Another letter you'll never read. Soon there'll be hundreds of them…scattered across the crux…useless letters)_How's the adventure going? Find all 13 crystals?_(Desperate attempt to sound cheery. Really should have taken that out.)_ Say hello to Snow for me. But not Mog. Kidding. It isn't the same, Serah. Not resolving paradoxes. I miss it._(Not it. You. I couldn't write that. Even if it's true.)

_Noel_

Noel read over his letter to Serah one last time before sliding it into an envelope and placing it on the desk. Hope would give it to her. If she ever came. His imagination seized on the image of a bedraggled Serah, her face crestfallen as Hope handed her his letter with the simple explanation"he left." The sight pleased him more than it should have. He continued the fantasy for a moment longer, envisioning Serah following him across the crux but always just missing him, sometimes only by minutes. His lips curved in a faint smile and then he blinked the image away. He _would_ see her again. Someday. An inner part of him knew it. His soul, maybe. But his path would cross hers. One more time at least.

Noel gave the letter one last glance and exited the rooms that had been designated as his during his time in Academia 4XX. Between guard duty and not sleeping, he hadn't spent much time in them really. Even the few free moments he'd allowed himself hadn't been spent there. It wasn't so much the place he would miss as the knowledge it was the first place Serah would look for him if/when she ever came looking. He'd miss Hope. The young Academy Director had become a friend despite their utter lack of anything in common, except a desire to save the world, a strained relationship with Snow...and the Farron sisters. He wondered if Hope really would break down and talk to Alyssa once he left. He knew Alyssa was counting on it.

His footsteps echoed shrilly against the polished floors, reverberating against the walls and giving him the impression that someone was following him even though he knew he was alone. Twice he almost looked back over his shoulder. His feet were heavy, heavier than the swords strapped to his back. The corridor stretched ever onward...as if it was getting longer instead of shorter. He had to leave. Even if leaving would sever the only tie he had left to Serah.

His progress through the lower floors of Headquarters was slowed somewhat by the well-wishes of the guards he had trained and the few members of the Academy staff he had gotten to know during his exile. He would miss them. Only briefly. He smiled and waved at all the right times, however. No one, even those who knew him well, would have guessed he was anything but pleased about moving forward in his journey across time. Noel waved one last time, relief coursing through him as he exited into the Academy's reception area.

No one really knew him in here, apart from the receptionist who had fallen more than a bit in love with him and the master monster catcher who had never forgiven him and Serah for surpassing his collection. He had become adept at avoiding both of them, particularly in the last few days when all Adele only managed the feeblest of smiles at his appearance and looked at him with too-sad eyes. Falling into step alongside a group of tourists, Noel slipped past the reception area without attracting the attention of Adele and the monster catcher. He looked back over his shoulder as he reached the doors, just in case she had spotted him(_sometimes you really are a jerk, Kreiss)_and left the Academy behind.

A misshapen ball of white hurtled into his chest, a familiar red jewel scraping against his chin and his heart thudded dully against the little white being clinging to him.

"Mog?" The moogle sniffed and nodded against his chest, his grip tight.

"Yes, Kupo! I've had a horrific experience, kupo." Several different possibilities came to mind, but Noel opted not to voice any of them. "I was imprisoned in a vault full of Gil, Kupo."

"But you love Gil, Mog."

"It was horrible, kupo!"

The moogle shook against him and Noel unthinkingly patted the creature's head in reassurance.

"I'm getting the impression you might have missed me, Mog."

The moogle twitched against his chest and retreated from him with a flurry of purple wings.

"I didn't _miss_ you, kupo. Things weren't the same, kupo. For Serah, too."

"She's with you?"

His stomach lurched in two different directions at once and then settled. Mog bobbed in the air.

"Talking to Hope, kupo."

For the first time, Noel allowed himself to look beyond the hovering moogle at the courtyard. A familiar slender figure stood talking to Hope, her hands clasped loosely behind her back, her head tilted slightly to the left as she listened to the Academy Director. Noel's stomach moved in opposing directions a second time and then his gaze moved past the talking Serah and Hope to the glowering shape of Snow a few feet away.

Reclining against his motorcycle, Snow's overly-muscled arms were crossed over his chest, his beanie keeping his chocobo blond hair in check. His matching engagement pendant was still missing from his neck. Snow jerked his head in the universal signal for conversation and Noel took a breath.

"Showtime," he muttered and stepped forward. "Stay with Serah," he added as Mog flew forward as if to follow him. Hope looked up as Noel passed, but Noel kept his gaze on Snow. He wouldn't acknowledge her. Not yet. Coming to a halt in front of Snow, Noel resisted the impulse to mimic him and cross his arms in front of his chest as well. Snow's features were unreadable, his gaze hard as it ran along Noel's features without comment.

"Found all thirteen crystals?" Noel asked, one corner of his mouth lifting as if to smile.

"Just two. We've decided to split the remaining eleven. Six for me, five for you and Serah. She said she had to come back. Something about being on the wrong path."

Noel's brows arched and he nodded, refusing to let himself look away from Snow. Snow studied him for several moments and then his arms fell from his chest.

"I thought her path was the same as mine…guess I was wrong."

"Right now it isn't. But it could be again. Someday."

"Right now it's with you. I get that. But I don't like it."

Snow looked him over several times and Noel couldn't help smiling.

"I wouldn't either if I was you."

Snow half-laughed.

"You'll take care of her?"

"Serah can take care of herself."

"Yes…I'm starting to realize that."

Snow's gaze drifted past him to where she stood, still conversing with Hope and his eyes misted over.

"But when she can't, I'll make sure she doesn't come to any harm. You can count on that, Snow."

Unnecessarily Noel made a fist over his heart and Snow's gaze reluctantly returned to him.

"I've always been able to count on you for that, Noel."

Again Snow's gaze assessed him and Noel wondered what it was about him that wasn't measuring up to Snow's standards. He was less muscled, sure, and younger, but neither were things he could entirely help. He could keep Serah safe just as well as Snow could…if not better. Something of his defiance must have shown in his face as Snow's eyes flickered and his mouth curved with a hint of amusement.

"I'd better get going. Crystals to find. Worlds to save. Serah and I agreed to meet back here once we've finished finding the crystals. It's the one time period we can all count on being safe in."

Noel nodded and retreated as Snow straddled his motorcycle and started the engine.

"You're not going to say good-bye?"

"We've said our good-byes already, Noel. You keep her safe. Even if she doesn't want you to. You'll have me to answer to if you don't."

Snow's gaze hardened and Noel nodded. Snow looked over at Serah, raised a hand in farewell and the motorcycle zoomed upward into the sky before it vanished on the horizon.

"I'll keep her safe." Noel said to Snow's vanished image, promising himself as much as Serah's on again off again fiancé. He didn't know if Hope was still talking to Serah nor did he want to find out.

Part of him wanted to prolong this moment, before he turned around, for as long as possible. He'd never really believed she would come back to him. He'd believed he would see her again, one day, but only after time had passed and her desertion of him no longer stung. Knowing she was there, just a few feet behind him, had thrown him into an unexpected state of confusion. Part of him wanted to yell at her for leaving him behind without a second's thought while the other wanted to hold her so tightly she wouldn't even think of leaving him again. _She'll leave you for him again someday,_ his own voice whispered in his mind and Noel acknowledged the truth of it even as he dismissed it. It didn't matter if Serah eventually left him for Snow; he would cherish the time he had with her until that day came. If it ever came. And when it did…maybe…he wouldn't simply stand by and let her go. Not without a fight. Noel turned around.

"Serah! You're back! In time!"

Hope was there beside her before Serah could even start to slide off Snow's motorcycle, his white hair whipping crazily in the aftermath of Snow's descent.

"Nice to see you, too, Hope. In time for what?"

Snow killed the engine and Serah slid to the ground, her hands falling into Hope's outstretched ones. Mog zoomed above her head.

"Noel's leaving Academia 4XX today."

Serah didn't hear another word he said. She nodded and smiled in all the right places as Hope filled her in on his botched assassination attempt, Caius' appearance in Alyssa's cell and Noel's decision to dance to Caius' tune alone, but she heard none of it.

Noel had been…_was_ leaving? Today? Hope seemed certain he hadn't left without his knowledge, but what if he had managed to leave undetected and she had missed him only by _moments?_ Hope knew where he was going so she had a good chance of catching him before he disappeared into a different time period, but…she didn't think she could bear just missing him. She would have hurt Snow for nothing. Worn that stupid dress and put up with the Duke's hideous advances all for nothing if Noel wasn't still here for her to come back to.

Hope's posture altered at the same time that Snow stiffened where he stood, reclining against his motorcycle and when Mog suddenly burst into flight at something behind her, she knew he was there. Relief flooded over her so strongly it was almost overwhelming and she was aware of a slight trembling in her knees. Terror swiftly replaced the relief and she was rooted firmly in place. Hope was still talking to her but she couldn't have made herself turn around even if she had wanted to. Moments stretched into eternities and Hope's mouth started to move in slow motion, his words blurring into sounds that had no meaning. Footsteps thundered behind her, accompanied by the faint hum of Mog's wings and her breath caught. Heat flooded her body as every part of her became aware of him passing just a few feet away from her and then...he kept walking. To Snow.

Something plummeted in her stomach and her insides deflated like a balloon as she watched Noel walk toward Snow. Her gaze devoured the sight of him, as if she was dying of thirst and he was the first drink she found. He hadn't changed. His brown hair was still shaggy, his swords still strapped to his back, his arms still wrapped with cords for reasons she still didn't know and hadn't ever had the courage to ask. He was still Noel.

Her lips curved as if to smile and then her stomach plummeted again. He hadn't looked at her or even acknowledged her. That wasn't like him. Her smile faded and she barely remembered to answer the question Hope asked her. Snow wasn't paying any attention to her either; he was watching Noel as closely as Noel was watching him. Someday she knew the two of them were going to come to blows–over her or something else–she only hoped today wasn't the day.

"Why did you come back, Serah?"

She blinked and looked away from the stand-off between Noel and Snow. Hope's lips curved faintly at the corners, a glimmer of understanding in his eyes that she forced herself to ignore.

"I don't know really."

"Yes, you do." Hope's gaze deliberately slid to where Noel stood, tensely conversing with Snow, before returning to her. Serah prayed she wasn't flushing as she shrugged and replied,

"I have to finish what I started. I was on a mission and I abandoned it because…"

"Snow didn't give you much choice. He never does." Serah glanced at her fiancé at the same moment his gaze drifted to her and affection for the big blond idiot stubbornly swelled within her.

"No. But he means well. Our paths aren't the same right now…that doesn't mean they won't be again someday."

"Maybe sooner than you think. Has it occurred to you that Noel might not want to go back to resolving paradoxes?"

Serah flinched as if he had struck her and her gaze flew to Noel's shaggy brown head.

"No…" She whispered, one hand clenching into a fist at her side while the other clasped the engagement necklace whose weight against her chest had suddenly increased tenfold.

"I can't pretend to know Noel better than you do, Serah, but I have learned a few things about him while he's been here. Every person he's ever cared about has left him…including you."

Serah blinked, trying desperately to get something to come into focus, but all she could see was nothingness. Hope smiled faintly and moved to leave, touching her shoulder as he passed.

"You're also the only one who came back," he added. Serah's surroundings came back into focus and she looked at Hope over her shoulder. He smiled and resumed walking back to Academy Headquarters.

Noel…not want to resume their search for the paradoxes? The possibility had never occurred to her, though she now supposed it should have. She was being just like Snow, assuming Noel wanted to come with her because he had wanted to before. But she had left him. Without a moment of hesitation. She had left him, just like Caius and Yuel had left him, though Yuel hadn't meant to. Hope was wrong—Caius had come back to Noel, too, just not as the friend and mentor he had known before. It would serve her right if Noel kept going wherever it was he was going—Hope had mentioned it but she hadn't heard him. She'd left him without a thought; she shouldn't expect him to do anything else.

Snow's motorcycle revved and Serah's gaze moved to where the two men stood. Noel had retreated a few paces, his posture slightly more relaxed than it had been before. Snow lifted a hand in farewell and zoomed upwards into the sky toward another timeline. Serah stared up at the skyline until even the blip he had once been was no longer visible, unaware of Noel doing the same. With the exception of the uncharacteristically silent Mog hovering somewhere behind her, she was alone with him now. The irritating trembling in her knees resumed and she wished futilely for a pillar or something to steady herself against. She couldn't remember ever being afraid to be alone with Noel before. She was afraid now. She both wanted him to turn around and for him to stay as he was, his back facing her, the familiar winged pattern across it. She didn't know what she would say to him. Sorry didn't seem enough, somehow.

Noel turned around.

Everything else around Serah vanished. Academia was remarkably unpopulated for this time of day, but she could have been surrounded by people and still all she would have seen was Noel. She wondered if she seemed different to him or the same. She never knew how many minutes passed where the two of them just stood, staring at each other. Only a few feet separated them, but it might have been miles, he felt so far away from her. Outwardly there was nothing different about his appearance; his hair was still brown and shaggy, his outfit the same one he had worn through their travels together and yet...there was something closed off about him that hadn't been there before. An invisible wall where once there had been nothing. All because she had left with Snow...without looking back.

Serah took half a step toward him and then retreated, the hand she had raised without knowing it falling uselessly back to her side. Noel's brows arched as his gaze followed the movement but his position didn't alter. Mog hovered between the two of them, his tiny hands clasped together, his expression almost worried.

"I shouldn't have left with Snow, Noel. I'm sorry." Serah dropped his gaze and stared down at the ground.

"I know why you did."

"I shouldn't have left without asking you. I'm sorry." She looked up at him and then dropped his gaze again.

"He's your fiancé, Serah, and he asked you to go on an adventure with him. What were you supposed to do? Say no?" Her gaze flickered to him again and he smiled, the old carefree smile she knew so well, but the emotion didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I was already on an adventure. With you. I shouldn't have abandoned it before it was completed." Something flickered in his eyes and he stepped toward her.

"Why did you come back?" Her mouth opened and closed several times and she shrugged with a carelessness she didn't really feel.

"It was the wrong adventure. When Snow and I were apart...all I could think about was how nice it would be if we could be together...all the time. And then we were together and things were...off. I've spent so little time with Snow, I don't really know how to be around him. He doesn't know how to be around me. I was happy when I was with him, but I always felt like I was supposed to be somewhere else. Doing something else. I missed you." The last came out almost in a whisper and he started in surprise.

"I missed you, too."

"Really?" He nodded and Mog spiraled upwards with a soft "kupo."

"So what's this about five crystals we're supposed to find?"

His smile was genuine, familiar, and he crossed the remaining distance between them. Warmth flooded Serah at his nearness which she ignored as she fished for the piece of paper Snow had given her.

"Snow sat in this trance-like state for maybe thirty minutes. It was kind of creepy. He held the two crystals we already found in each hand and came up with a list of one word clues. I have an idea of where to go for one of them, but he says it just kind of comes to you. I was hoping it might go along with resolving paradoxes somehow."

Noel took the list from her and read it over several times, frowning. Serah shifted her weight from one foot to the other while Mog flew back and forth between them.

"None of it makes any sense to me. Where to?" He handed the list back to her and Serah returned it to one of the mysterious pockets in her clothing that only appeared when she needed one.

"Oerba." He emitted something that sounded something like a laugh.

"Oerba?" She nodded and Noel shook his head, his shoulders shaking even though he still wasn't laughing aloud. "That was where I was headed."

Serah's eyes widened and something inside her stilled. If he had left before she came back and if she had gone on alone...she still would have found him. Noel rubbed the back of his neck and gestured into Academia proper. Serah hesitated and then moved forward, falling into step alongside him just as she always had, but without the old ease. She was uncomfortably ultra-aware of his presence beside her and she briefly longed for the days when being with Noel was as easy as breathing. Stepping onto the arrow paths, she glanced at him and said,

"I heard something about you sleeping here?"

Noel actually flushed, his hand drifting to the back of his neck.

"Hope has a big mouth."

"You didn't really, did you?"

"It was comfortable."

"More comfortable than your bed?"

He shrugged and stepped off the path ahead of her. She was only teasing–he would still know that, wouldn't he? Serah glanced over her shoulder to find Mog and gasped when Noel unexpectedly seized a hold of her elbow. Wordlessly he embraced her, holding her so tightly against him Serah feared his necklace was going to leave an imprint against her skin alongside the one from her own. He smelled the same way she remembered, like wind and grass with a faint whiff of chocobo and something else that was indecipherably Noel.

"Don't leave me again, Serah. Please." She stilled within his arms.

"I won't, Noel. Not if I can help it." She tilted her head back to look at him, startled by the urgency in his eyes.

"You promise?" She blinked while her heart thudded painfully against her chest as she took in his expression.

"I promise."

He stared at her for several moments, his grip tightening around her until he appeared to be satisfied and released her. A sense of emptiness settled over her and she dropped his gaze. This wasn't going exactly as she had expected. She wasn't sure what she had expected him to do. Make some sort of declaration? That was Snow's thing. And when it came to her...she didn't want Noel to be like Snow. Not at all.

"Serah? You coming?"

She looked up and blinked at the sight of his hand, outstretched before her, wrapped with its inexplicable cords. Her gaze moved from his hand to his face and then back again before her fingers moved of their own accord and clasped his. Noel smiled and drew her along after him into the crowds of Academia 4XX. Her arm brushed against his, sending a shiver running all the way down to her toes and she tightened her grip on his fingers.

"Noel?" He looked over at her, a familiar light of affection in his eyes, even if it was slightly dimmer than she remembered.

"You...you wouldn't ever leave me, would you?"

He halted and Mog zoomed several feet in front of them before he realized they had stopped. For several moments Noel simply stared at her while the residents of Academia 4XX bustled past them. One man bumped into Noel, jarring his left shoulder and still his gaze did not leave her.

"No, Serah. I wouldn't leave you. Not if I could help it."

He smiled weakly and moved as if to continue their journey to the gate but she pressed her forehead against his arm and rooted him in place. His muscle tightened and then loosened and his other hand tentatively touched the top of her head. His fingers felt strange and right in her hair at the same time.

"We started resolving paradoxes together. And we'll finish resolving them. Together," Noel said, staring at some distant point over the top of her head.

"Right. Together," Serah repeated, beaming up at him for no reason at all. Noel's fingers fell from her hair and his gaze met hers briefly before he pulled her back into the bustle of the streets.

"Don't forget me, Kupo!" Mog added, buzzing around their heads.

"I couldn't forget you, Piggy Kitty."

"Stop calling me that, Kupo!" Mog zoomed close into Noel's face, halting just inches from his face.

"Piggy Kitty."

Noel poked Mog in the nose. The moogle sputtered and shot upward out of Noel's reach. Serah smiled as a sense of rightness settled over her, a sensation that had been missing ever since she left Noel to go on her adventure with Snow.

_I __**will**__ stay with you, Noel. Until we've resolved all the paradoxes. And after. If you'll let me. _She looked up at his profile. A few strands of shaggy brown hair fell over his forehead and his lips twitched occasionally with repressed smiles. It would take some time to repair the damage she had done by leaving him but she _would_ fix it. He was still her Noel and she belonged wherever he was. Whether it was as his friend or maybe someday something more, she wasn't going to leave him again. Ever.

As if aware of her thoughts, Noel looked down at her, his lips curving into the familiar affectionate smile she knew so well. No, definitely not ever. Her path was forever linked with Noel's. Snow would always be her hero but...she didn't need a hero anymore. She had Noel.

A/N: I _know_ it has been months and months since I updated this. I never meant to let it go this long. It sat for a long time in a state of almost being finished. I apologize for the wait and sincerely hope those of you who enjoyed reading it up to this point read the conclusion. I lost a family member shortly before Christmas and it took a long time for things to get back to anything resembling normal. I apologize for not really putting them together. I'm afraid many of you will be disappointed I didn't, but the way I see Noel, I don't see him there yet. I don't think romance was ever really on his radar screen and while he knows Serah is more than a friend to him, he's not ready to act on it. Thank you to everyone who read and wrote reviews! They've helped me so much during my writing slumps over the past year. I haven't forgotten about a sequel to Not My Serah either. I hope I can still write it. Preferably before Lightning Returns is released and ruins everything. But here is your conclusion at last and thank you again so much for reading!


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